For Bread Alone Paperback – April 1, 2007

I liked this book. That surprised me. This speaks directly to strength in narration and artistry of Mr. Choukri, who shows us, in this first volume of his autobiography, the despair brought about by ignorance and poverty. Our young man's apparent lack of hope for a better future is made clear from the start. In his teens, born in Marocco, during the French domination, he struggles to find the rules and reasons for the world around him. I say apparent lack of hope, because after the first few paragraphs we already know that he is sensitive, smart and will attempt to survive as best he can, without any help from his family or society. In this respect, I was satisfied early on, for I sensed it would be all right to attach my emotions to this hero; that he would not betray my confidence. Mr. Choukri's narration is also masterful in the depiction of the most despicable acts of violence both physical and moral. He is detached. So we can also keep our safe distance.I confess to having a special reason for reading this book. Since I spent some time in the early 1980s in Oran, Algeria, I have been intrigued with the peoples of North Africa. And this book takes place in many of the cities and towns that are familiar to me. What surprises is to see that even though there was a good thirty years difference between the time this story took place and the 1980s, there were vestiges that for some, things still remained. I can only hope that there has been considerable improvement in the past 20 years.This is a book that makes us think. And even though the subject: a disenfranchised youth in the life of petty crimes in the fringe of society is not unusual in the literature of developing countries, it is important to return to these themes once in a while, getting out of our comforatble, well educated bubbles, and rethink our own contributions to world around us.I am a better person for having read this book. That's a sign of excellence.

Hard life, harsh descriptions, real, raw and disturbing. Choukri lays bare what most only imagine, or glimpse into the lives of those economically, educationally and socially truly impoverished. I thought I knew Morocco, but now am reminded of just how much more I have to learn. This is not a comfortable read and the English translation leaves some transitions difficult to traverse. Still, his story needs telling and told by him makes the reader’s time well spent.

I have just finished it . It was a wonderful expereince for me, I felt as if I were living in Tangier in 1950's. I picked ladies' pockets together with Mohamed Choukri, the central character. On a cold night I slept in the street, with a cat on me.I slept with prostitutes and drank wine with them. I smuggled watches from the foreign ship and was pursued by the Customs officials. I joined in the demonstration against French colonialism and was attacked by the police. Now I am inclined to learn Arabic, like Mohamed, who bought a primer of Arabic and began to learn the language. His family was so poor that he did not have any chance to learn how to read and write it, until he was twenty years old. I have jut spent a couple of days in the Moroccan dream world.

In general I liked the story, but there were way too many curse words and such woven into it. In a world where cursing and cussing and downright foul language has become comon place, for my part, I certainly do not want them to appear, to such an extend, in the book I am reading.

Inflectional, moving and daring biography of shukri who lived a hopeless life in hopeless war times. This great book that was banned for many years in the Middle east was interpreted and published in Francais, Spanish and English before it was published in it's original language: Arabic. This book, though could be distrubing for many people; I was able to find so much meaning in it.

This follows roughly a year ir so in the life of a street kid in Moracco. The story is an engaging chronicle, often graphic and is a tale of overcoming great adversities personal in scope and often graphic. Essentially, there is not a lot of hope left for the subject at the ending except for the suggestion that the desire to achieve literacy may present a modicum of promise. While the story is often compelling, the circumstances of the character are dire. A postscript as to what may have become this youth would have greatly added the picture which is otherwise well wrought.

I found this book very informative as to what life can be like for a poor Moroccan peasant. It was fascinating, and seemed very honest and sincere. In spite of the hard life the protagonist has, he manages to go on in order to eat and live. It was a really good read.

This is crude and honest. When picking this book, you must put on a pause all your ethical thinking on what is sexist, racist, and morally unacceptable. This is not a book to enjoy. Reading of this book is painful, but in the end, I saw it as a manifest against war and against violence. How a child, who received nothing but hate when growing up, could digest his pain into words, and could overcome it in a way.